Spiritual Circuit Breakers (Guest Post)

*GUEST POST BY ERIC VANDER PLOEG*

Click. Then darkness.

“Great.” 

That’s how I discovered you can’t run the microwave and the vacuum at the same time. My little house couldn’t handle that much all on one circuit. Too much power. Overload.

Fortunately, that’s what circuit breakers are for—to protect us from taking on more power than we can actually handle. 

If a circuit breaker can help my house, might it also help my heart?

Spiritual Overload

God is way more than we humans can handle. 

Israel had to stand a safe distance from Sinai as a cloud concealed God’s presence (Ex. 19:12). The angels have to cover their eyes with an extra pair of wings around God’s throne (Is. 6:2). Even Moses had to be hidden in a cleft of rock when God’s glory passed by, for “man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:16). The full picture of the creator’s glory and majesty and power is far more than the creation can handle. Seeing it fully would overload the hearts and minds of anyone who dared to look.

In his kindness, God safely shows himself to us through scripture, using words and stories and images we can comprehend. But every so often, God pulls back the curtain and gives us a greater glimpse of his glory. And that glimpse can stretch us, can stress us, can even strain our notions of just who God really is.

Romans 9 is just such a stressful text. Paul shows the reality of human choice and the wonder of divine election. He knows it will blow the circuits of our mind. The two are true, but how they work together is more than we can handle. “Who are you to answer back to God?” (Rom. 9:20). We’ve reached our limit on this one. Better to simply believe with fear and trembling.

But that fear can make us fearful, and that trembling can shake more than our faith. What if God is bigger than we can handle? What if he really is sovereign over good and evil? What if free will is less free than we first thought? 

What if we get overloaded by God’s power?

Spiritual Circuit Breakers

That’s where spiritual circuit breakers can help. 

1. Follow the footsteps

You aren’t the first to take this journey. Many have gone this way before. And they are probably all around you. Listen to their stories of wrestling and wondering and waiting. Find people you deeply respect and invite them for coffee. Ask them how they faced these questions. Let a trusted guide take you through the uncertain terrain.

A good guide will point you to good books where you can read helpful arguments from scripture. Some people struggling with “Calvinism” later find out that “Calvinism” doesn’t mean what they think it means. A wise mentor can help clear up stereotypes, focus on real arguments, and save you from suffering needlessly over wrong information.

They can also be a safe place to voice your doubts and form your questions. Be careful sharing too much with too many people, as your overload might accidentally begin to overload others. Find an honest and wise person who will listen without judgment and wrestle with you over the nature of God’s will.

2. Agree to disagree

There are some doctrines where smart Christians have disagreed for centuries. Sometimes that disagreement leads to division. Sometimes it must. But sometimes, in a healthy church with humble people and a high view of scripture, certain disagreements can live charitably alongside each other. 

In our church, the doctrine of election is one of them. We have elders who disagree, leaders who disagree, and wise men and women who look at the same Bible and come to differing conclusions on God’s sovereignty. If election and predestination and reprobation feel too heavy to bear, perhaps you need the circuit breaker of humble disagreement. Simply agree to disagree. Believe what you see in scripture. Love those around you. Worship God as you understand him. Sing with all your might. And stay open.

“If in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained” (Phil. 3:15–16). God may someday reveal that you got this one wrong. Or maybe you got it right. For now, hold to what you have attained and rest in that.

3. Understand that you won’t always understand

Even Paul himself, after giving us the clearest picture of both divine election and human responsibility, admits he doesn’t fully get it.

He declares in Romans 11:33–36:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, 

or who has been his counselor?” 

“Or who has given a gift to him 

that he might be repaid?” 

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

When he feels the overload coming on, he moves from wondering to wonder. He breaks the circuit on his intellect and stops trying to answer the question. He moves to worship. God is so deep! So strong! So mighty! So unsearchable! Even inscrutable! He lets the overload push him not to worry but to worship. God is beyond me… which means God is truly God! To him be glory forever!

When finite beings encounter an infinite God, we need to plan on not always understanding. It’s actually a good thing! If we could fully comprehend God then he wouldn’t be worthy of being God. If we could fit him in our box then he wouldn’t be fit to be our king. Overload can be a gift if you handle it with care and let it power your worship. 

4. Remember it’s good that God is good

Whatever election means, whatever predestination actually predestines, whatever the mysteries of God’s sovereignty actually entail… know this: God is good. Whatever he does will be good. Perfectly good. Good beyond our wildest imagination. 

If, in wrestling with God’s choice over our choices, we find him cruel or spiteful or uncaring… If our logic somehow declares him to be the author of evil, or a God who delights in the perishing of sinners… then know that something has gone wrong. We have taken a turn and reached a dead end. Our logic has left us lost. Whatever our path, we must always trust that God is good. His sovereign will is good. He works all things for the good of those who love him. 

We may not understand how his goodness works, but we can be certain that he is undeniably and unchangeably good. God will not do us wrong, or our family wrong, or our planet wrong. God will always do what is right and good. Let us trust him in that.

Even when our hearts get overloaded by his power. 

Let them instead be overwhelmed by his goodness.